Details have been finalized by the Hutchinson Community College Athletic Department and Cox Kansas to televise the Blue Dragons’ 2012 season-opening football game with Coffeyville Community College on Saturday, Aug. 25 at Gowans Stadium.
The “Cox Kansas Kickoff Classic” will be aired on Cox Kansas Channel 22 live beginning at 7 p.m. with a 7:07 p.m. scheduled kickoff. The game will re-air on Aug. 27 at 7 p.m., on Sept. 1 at 12:30 p.m. and on Sept. 2 at noon. The game will also be available for “On Demand” customers.
Mark Ewing, programming manager for Cox Kansas, will provide the play-by-play. Former Kansas City Chiefs player Rich Baldinger will provide the game analysis and Chris Allison will be on the sidelines.
This will be the fifth time that Cox Kansas has televised a Blue Dragon football game live at Gowans Stadium. In 2009, the HCC-Butler regular-season game was televised. In 2010, the season opener against Kilgore College and the Salt City Bowl against Lackawanna College were televised.
The “Cox Kansas Kickoff Classic” will feature the Blue Dragons, who went 9-3 last season, won the Salt City Bowl and finished No. 9 in the final NJCAA rankings.
After a 6-4 season in which they finished third in the Jayhawk Conference in 2011, Coffeyville is under new leadership with Aaron Flores.
Hutchinson and Coffeyville met twice in 2011 with the Blue Dragons winning both games decisively. The first meeting was a 42-17 HCC victory in the season finale at Coffeyville. One week later in the Region VI semifinals, the Blue Dragons defeated the Red Ravens 45-16 to advance to the regional championship game for a second-straight year.
Because of the contractual agreement between HCC and Cox Kansas, the HCC-Coffeyville game will not be videostreamed live on the Blue Dragon Sports Network, but the audio-only feed will be available live. The game will be tape-delayed on the Blue Dragon Sports Network on Sunday, August 26.
(HCC Sports Information)
